


Missing You, Missing Me

by flailinginlove



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Missing-Nin Hatake Kakashi, Missing-Nin Uzumaki Naruto, basically everyone is a missing-nin at some point, missing-nin AUs, missing-nin Umino Iruka
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-10-04 01:26:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 3,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17295047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flailinginlove/pseuds/flailinginlove
Summary: A collection of eight unrelated drabbles and ficlets where Kakashi, Iruka, or both are missing-nin.





	1. the perfect mark

**Author's Note:**

> A while back, a bunch of the KakaIru artists on twitter were posting drawings of Kakashi and Iruka as missing-nin and I was like YES, MORE OF THAT PLEASE. I wanted to write something to that effect, but couldn't decide how exactly I wanted to do it. There were just too many interesting options. So I drabbled around until I found the one I wanted to write the most. That one is longer and still needs editing, but until it's ready to post, these are the roads not taken. They range from 150-750 words. (Apologies in advance to my subscribers who are about to get spammed by notifications.)
> 
>  **An index of sorts for ease of navigation:**  
>  Chapter 1 - Kakashi and Naruto are missing-nin, Iruka is his lovable Iruka-self.  
> Chapter 2 - Iruka is a Mist missing-nin, Kakashi is a Konoha ANBU.  
> Chapter 3 - Kakashi wants to leave Konoha, Iruka isn't so sure.  
> Chapter 4 - Iruka is a missing-nin spy, Kakashi doesn't know what to think.  
> Chapter 5 - Iruka leaves, Kakashi follows.  
> Chapter 6 - Both are missing-nin, Kakashi from Konoha, Iruka from elsewhere.  
> Chapter 7 - Kakashi leaves, Iruka follows, but not to join him.  
> Chapter 8 - Iruka is a missing-nin with Naruto in tow, Kakashi has his own burden to bear.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi and Naruto are missing-nin, Iruka is his lovable Iruka-self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a conversation with Pastles.

Naruto had been cagey about his latest mark. He hadn't told Kakashi where he'd found them or who they were, and that was setting warning bells off in Kakashi's head. Naruto still passed along information from his scouting trips into Konoha, but it seemed filtered, carefully selected. And that more than anything worried Kakashi. Naruto didn't hold back information, he overshared.

Each time Naruto returned to their hideout, he was brighter, happier. His sharp edges became duller and something about him softened a little more with every trip he took to gather intel. The hatred in his eyes for everything Konoha stood for had started to fade, and Kakashi needed to find out why if they were going to carry out their plans without a hitch.

His first guess was that Naruto had started sleeping with someone in the village. Some girl or boy had let him into their bed, and that was confusing him. He was still young, far too young to sleep with a mark without letting emotions creep in. At 16, the lines between love, lust, and fucking someone for intel were a tangled mess. Kakashi wouldn't blame Naruto for a misstep, but that didn't mean the situation could go unchecked.

So the next time Naruto left their hideout to visit Konoha, Kakashi followed. It'd been years since he'd been in the village. He scoffed at how easy it was to walk right in. He might have purple markings over his eyes instead of wearing his usual mask, but that didn't excuse such pathetic security.

He'd expected to find Naruto with some Konoha teen, maybe a genin, someone that wouldn't suspect they were being used for information. Instead he found him with a man closer to Kakashi's age, eating ramen in a rundown stall. He watched them for a while, studying their interaction. There wasn't anything romantic or sexual about it. If anything, it was familial. An older brother teasing a younger, a father giving his son advice.

Naruto's voice was excited, his gestures grand as he told the man stories about his adventures. The man's laughter was easy and his interest seemed genuine. The way they bantered back and forth made Kakashi's skin crawl. This wasn't the reason he'd sent Naruto in to Konoha, it wasn't even close.

Kakashi slid onto the stool on the man's other side. 

"Aren't you going introduce me to your friend, Naruto?" he asked, voice light and friendly. 

Both heads swung towards him, surprised. Looking at Kakashi, the man couldn't see the way Naruto's face paled, how hard he swallowed, his eyes darting between them. 

The man just held out his hand. "Umino Iruka," he said. "Nice to meet you." He smiled at Kakashi, wide and bright, open and more than a little stunning.

Kakashi smiled back, sharp and deadly, smooth and cunning. "Any friend of Naruto is a friend of mine."

Iruka's hand was warm and strong as Kakashi grasped it in greeting. Kakashi's heartbeat raced at the simple contact, but that was just an automatic response. He rarely had physical contact with anyone outside of fights. He let his hand linger for longer than could be considered polite, liking the way it made the man's cheeks turn pink. Maybe Naruto had found a good mark after all.

Behind Iruka, Naruto's eyes were wide and panicked. He had to know why Kakashi was there, that Kakashi wouldn't allow anything to stop them.

If this man was causing Naruto's resolve to falter, if he was compromising their plans in any way, he needed to be eliminated. 

And if Naruto wasn't able to do it, Kakashi would see it done himself. 

But before that, Kakashi would get everything out of Iruka that he could.

~*~*~


	2. just like home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iruka is a Mist missing-nin, Kakashi is a Konoha ANBU.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most OOC Iruka gets in any of these stories, but he was raised in Mist here, so...

Leaf-nin rarely posed a threat to Iruka. They were too goody-goody to bother him unless he was causing trouble, too bound by all their rules and regulations to cheat when they did fight. Most of them had fire affinity, and that was easy for him to counter. 

But every village had its limits, even a pushover one like Konoha that went far too easy on its ninjas-in-training. A missing-nin could only kill so many of their shinobi before ANBU came hunting for revenge. 

Iruka had been curious to see the level of ninja they'd send after him. The results had been rather disappointing so far. No one had given him a real fight yet.

But the one that was standing in front of him, red and black marks decorating his white dog mask, sword out and ready, crackle of lightning surrounding him, he was different. 

The infamous Copy-nin. Iruka had heard the rumors, but had never seen the man himself. There was an aura of confidence around him, a deadly precision to his movements. He knew jutsu no one else did and was smart enough that he wouldn't need to cheat to make it interesting. The lightning that danced on his fingertips couldn't be easily overpowered by Iruka's water affinity. The fact that Konoha had sent someone so well known and powerful flattered Iruka.

As mist settled around them, Iruka grinned, cold and vicious. Apparently the Copy-nin knew the Silent Killing Jutsu. Now _this_ felt like home.

The foggy silence dulled Iruka's echolocation, making it all but impossible to track his opponent's quick movements. The sudden disadvantage thrilled him, anticipation set his senses alight. It'd been years since someone had made him feel this alive. 

Iruka's breath came hard and fast as he waited for the attack. In his mind he ran through the seals and tags he had remaining, the tricks and traps someone like the Copy-nin might fall for. There were a few he couldn't wait to try. Just because he might not survive this fight, didn't mean he couldn't have fun with it.

He was outmatched and he might end up dead, but if that happened, he'd make damn sure he took the Copy-nin with him.

~*~*~


	3. come with me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi wants to leave Konoha, Iruka isn't so sure.

Kakashi was a warm, solid weight against Iruka's back, strong arms wrapped around his waist. Iruka couldn't look at him, all he could do was stare at Konoha's walls.

"Come with me," Kakashi whispered, his warm breath ghosting against Iruka's ear. 

He'd said those words before, but never like this. Iruka held back near hysterical laughter at how different the meaning was now.

There was so much promise in those three words. A life together, freedom to be themselves. Promise, but also betrayal. Iruka's eyes burned and Konoha's walls wavered.

A hundred offhand comments flickered in Iruka's mind, things Kakashi had said over their years together. They'd come more frequently in the last few months. He'd never come right out and asked before now, but each statement had boiled down to one question. _If I leave, will you follow?_

This would be the last time Kakashi asked.

Iruka's hands shook as he dragged a kunai across his forehead protector, the tip gouging deep into the metal, marring the symbol he'd thought he'd wear proudly until the day he died. Kakashi's hands steadied his. Iruka shoved the forehead protector into his pouch, not yet able to wear it like Kakashi was wearing his.

Kakashi turned, his back to the village. One of his hands cupped Iruka's cheek until Iruka looked at him, not the walls.

"Come with me," he said again, softer now, relieved. He took off into the forest, never once looking back.

Iruka followed, but found himself looking back even after the trees had hidden Konoha from view.

~*~*~


	4. join us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iruka is a missing-nin spy, Kakashi doesn't know what to think.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warning for head fuckery.

"They don't know how strong you really are," Iruka whispered into his ear, and Kakashi shuddered, eyes sliding shut.

Kakashi didn't know how Akatsuki had planted a spy so deeply into Konoha's heart. Iruka had never said. Maybe he'd always been a spy and had worked his way into his current position, maybe they'd turned him after the fact, both seemed equally as implausible. But _how_ didn't matter, not when the person Naruto trusted the most was working for the organization that had placed a target on his back.

"They take you for granted," Iruka said, fingers tracing patterns onto Kakashi's bare skin until Kakashi forgot how to breathe.

He wasn't sure how a spy could manage to seem so clean, so innocent. No one would believe Kakashi if he tried to expose him. Iruka was the Will of Fire made flesh, the dedicated teacher to Konoha's future. Everyone in the village loved him, Kakashi more than most.

"You could have the world at your feet," Iruka said, words hot against Kakashi's inner thigh as he kissed his way up it. Kakashi's fingers ran through his hair. He didn't want the world, this was enough. He didn't say that though, not when Iruka had made it clear that it wasn't.

Kakashi didn't know how they'd ended up in a relationship, if it even was one. If it'd happened before or after Iruka had turned. If he was just another means to an end. He didn't want to know. 

There were moments when Iruka did seem to love him; soft and tender and so very _real_. In those moments, he would bet his life on it. But that was harder to trust now that he knew Iruka's love for the village was nothing but a beautifully crafted lie.

"We'd be together," Iruka promised him, breath ragged, hands gripping him tight. It was so easy to believe him, so easy to want it to be true.

Kakashi had always prided himself on being able to see underneath the underneath, but Iruka had depths he could drown in.

"Join us," Iruka said, eyes searching Kakashi's in a way that would seem desperate from anyone else. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Kakashi's. " _Please_."

Kakashi closed his eyes too and tried to remember how to breathe, tried to remember what was real.

He tilted his head to brush his lips against Iruka's, feeling the unsteady breath it drew from him, the way Iruka melted against him.

" _Please_ ," Iruka said again.

It seemed so honest, so real. 

But Kakashi just didn't know.

~*~*~


	5. together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iruka leaves, Kakashi follows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warning for major character death, I guess? But not Kakashi or Iruka.

They'd killed Naruto, extracted the Nine Tails even though they'd known the cost. Danzo had thought that he could harness the power, that he could use it as a weapon. He'd been wrong.

Iruka hadn't been able to stop it, and that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

His apartment was gone, so were over half the buildings in the village. The ones that remained were battered and broken, far from structurally sound. The number of casualties was staggering. Iruka had no idea how many friends he'd lost, how many of his students were dead. He didn't want to know.

There wasn't much remaining of Konoha to leave, but still, Iruka left. He wouldn't help rebuild a village that could let something like this happen, one that could follow a man who'd been so quick to sacrifice Naruto's life for the promise of more power.

He was less than half a day from Konoha when he realized he was being followed. With all the chaos and death he'd left behind, he couldn't imagine they'd sent someone after him. He didn't think they ever would. A chuunin Academy teacher wasn't the kind of target you wasted ANBU on, even if he had abandoned the village in its hour of need.

Iruka slowed, waiting for his pursuer to catch up to him, then came to a stop when they didn't seem inclined to make themselves known. He felt a jolt of surprise shoot through him as Kakashi stepped out from behind a tree. His uniform was just as battered as Iruka's, streaks of blood and dirt covered the visible part of his face.

"Are you here to try to take me back?" Iruka asked.

"No," Kakashi said. "I'm here to go with you."

Iruka studied him, then nodded. They turned away from the village and continued. Iruka didn't know where they were going or what they'd do when they got there, but they'd figure it out together.

~*~*~


	6. come here often?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both are missing-nin, Kakashi from Konoha, Iruka from elsewhere.

Iruka grinned as his target walked into the bar. He was tall and lanky and moved with a slouch that didn't quite hide how powerful he truly was. His baggy clothes couldn't disguise the fact that he was armed to the teeth. But it wasn't his looks that had attracted Iruka, at least not entirely. It was his bingo book entry. Hatake Kakashi's head was worth more than every single bounty Iruka had collected up to this point _combined_.

Iruka didn't normally go after such high level targets, but he'd been making too many kills lately. He'd started to make a name for himself, and that was dangerous. When a missing-nin made a living by going after other missing-nin, word spread quickly. He knew he was in more than one bingo book already.

He had to lay low until he wasn't a new threat to watch out for. But in order to do that, he needed money. And Hatake Kakashi's bounty would be more than enough to get him through.

There were dozens of rumors that swirled around the Copy-nin, friend-killer, one of Konoha's most infamous missing-nin. Iruka didn't think half of them could possibly be true, but he was curious to find out. 

Iruka's gaze lingered on Kakashi. He knew the other man would feel it, he was counting on it. Only a moment passed before Kakashi was turning to look at him. Iruka didn't look away, instead he let his eyes trail down Kakashi's body, not needing to fake the blatant interest in his stare.

Kakashi nodded to him, then went to the bar and ordered two drinks. He didn't bother to hide the hungry, predatory look in his exposed eye as he walked up to Iruka's table. 

Iruka pushed the chair out from the other side of the table with his foot, invitation clear. Kakashi took it, sliding one of the drinks towards Iruka in return.

"Come here often?" Iruka asked, making the overused line sound cheeky and teasing. 

There was a knowing sort of glint in Kakashi's eye. "Only when I'm looking for something."

Iruka hummed, low and interested. Under the table, he slid his leg against Kakashi's and noted the position of kunai holsters and other hidden weapons. "And what exactly are you looking for tonight?"

Kakashi leaned closer, his fingers trailing up the inside of Iruka's left arm, pausing almost imperceptibly on the three poisoned senbon he had strapped there. "Oh, probably the same thing you are," he drawled. 

"Shall we take this somewhere more private then?" Iruka asked, his leg pushing a hidden kunai holster hard into Kakashi's thigh.

Even through his mask, Iruka could tell Kakashi was smirking. His fingers circled around Iruka's arm to tap against a set of shuriken he had tucked there. "I think I'd like that very much. But are you sure you don't want to finish your drink first?"

Iruka grinned and took a long pull of the beer Kakashi had brought him. He'd done his research, he always did. For all the crimes laid at Kakashi's feet, he wasn't the type to poison. Iruka stood, deliberately putting himself into Kakashi's personal space, just to see how he'd react.

Kakashi stood as well, not pulling away, and Iruka leaned closer to whisper in his ear. "Your place or mine?"

Kakashi placed a hand on his waist, thumb running over the handle of a kunai Iruka had hidden there. He chuckled, and replied in a low, rough voice. "Whatever you want, _Sensei_ , whatever you want."

_Sensei_. Iruka hadn't been called that in years, not since he'd left his village. It looked like he wasn't the only one who'd done his research.

Iruka's hand found its way to Kakashi's ass, brushing past a pouch with a scroll in it along the way. He'd bet money that it was his summoning scroll. Ninken, eight of them, the rumors claimed.

"Surprise me," Iruka said, lips brushing against the cloth of Kakashi's mask.

"With pleasure," Kakashi said, an arm wrapping around Iruka's waist, hands coming up to make the tiger hand seal that would body flicker them out of the bar. 

Anticipation curling in his stomach, Iruka waited to see where they'd land.

~*~*~


	7. ashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi leaves, Iruka follows, but not to join him.

Iruka hadn't seen it coming. Maybe he should have, maybe there'd been warning signs he'd ignored because he hadn't want to see them. Or maybe Kakashi was just that good of a liar. But as it was, he'd been just as blindsided as everyone else. More so even, after sharing a bed with Kakashi for years.

Iruka stared at the ashes of Konoha, the ashes of his relationship. A hundred emotions warred in his head, numbing him. Pain, betrayal, heartache, anger, sadness, and dozens more. There might be time to deal for those emotions later. Now wasn't that time. 

He shouldered the pack he'd salvaged from the ruins of his apartment. This wasn't an authorized mission. He might get blacklisted because of it, but he didn't care. It wasn't likely he was coming back alive anyway.

He doubted he'd be the one to take Kakashi down, but he knew he had to try.

~*~*~


	8. a new start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iruka is a missing-nin with Naruto in tow, Kakashi has his own burden to bear.

Kakashi had heard about it when it'd happened. Everyone had. The teenage Academy teacher who'd kidnapped the Nine Tails's six-year-old jinchuuriki. He'd taken the boy out of the village and no one had found them, no matter how many ANBU the Third sent after them.

Kakashi had theories, but he didn't dwell on them. It didn't matter unless he was sent to find them. Besides, he had his own problems to deal with.

The biggest of which was currently on his bed.

Uchiha Itachi sat there, hands still bloody from killing his entire clan except the pale boy that was curled up in his lap, asleep or under genjutsu, Kakashi wasn't sure.

Kakashi gathered chakra for a jutsu and opened his mouth to call the alarm, but Itachi put his hands up in surrender. Like that simple movement could make him any less of a threat. They'd served together in ANBU for long enough that Kakashi would never believe something that foolish.

"I did it to protect him, to protect the village," Itachi said in a harsh whisper, for once looking his actual age. Kakashi always forgot how young he was, just fourteen now. "But they won't promise me they'll protect him."

Kakashi stared, not sure what to say. His mind spun. Did that mean someone had known what Itachi was going to do? The Third? The Council?

" _You_ can protect him," Itachi continued. "You're the only one I can trust to do it. And you can show him how to use the Sharingan when he awakens it."

Kakashi shifted. "I can check on him between missions," he said, but Itachi shook his head.

" _Not here_ ," he hissed. "He won't be safe."

Kakashi's stomach dropped as he realized what exactly Itachi wanted him to do. "Itachi, I can't-"

"If you won't do it for me, do it for Obito. For the last member of his clan."

That was a low blow and Itachi knew it.

Itachi shifted the boy onto Kakashi's bed. "I have to go," he said. "But I know you, Kakashi. You'll do the right thing. Don't trust the Council."

And with that, he was gone. 

Kakashi stared at the sleeping boy for hours before he decided what to do.

~*~*~

The Land of Plains was on the other side of Wind Country, about as far as Kakashi could get from Konoha without going to one of the northern countries, with their long winters and jagged mountains. It reminded him a lot of the Land of Fields, but far less cultivated. Wide swathes of grassland spread out before them with only a few small towns in between.

Sasuke walked beside him, solemn and quiet. He hadn't spoken once since he'd woken from his genjutsu-induced slumber.

Kakashi found himself talking to fill the silence. "Just a little further," he said, voice a forced sort of cheery.

Sasuke gave no indication that he'd even heard him.

~*~*~

The town was small, the kind of place where everybody knew everyone else. One with an aging population that left empty houses abandoned in ever greater numbers. It wasn't hard to find a cheap place to buy.

"And how old are you?" the elderly lady who'd just sold them their new house asked Sasuke, leaning down so she was on his level.

He stared at her blankly.

"He's seven," Kakashi said, then added quickly, "and very shy."

"Oh," the woman said, sounding delighted as she straightened up. "We have another single father with a boy just his age. A troublesome little thing." She tsked like she was irritated, but the fondness in her tone was clear. "He'll be thrilled to have someone his age to play with."

"I'm sure Sasuke will like that," Kakashi said, though he knew he wouldn't.

"The father runs a small school for all the kids from the local villages. Less than a dozen of those now though," she continued. "I'm sure he'll take your boy on as well if you'd like."

"Has he been running the school for long?" Kakashi asked, keeping his voice open and friendly. Just a new neighbor, curious about his new town.

She shook her head. "Just since he moved here, for about a year now."

Kakashi nodded, holding back a relieved sigh. "That's good to know."

He'd found the right place after all.

~*~*~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked them! ♥
> 
> Next up will probably be the longer missing-nin fic. It's about 10k words, significantly lighter than most of these, and needs a decent amount of editing. I'm really hoping to get it done by the end of the month at the latest, but we will see. :)


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